Change of minister expected to speed up reform roll-out

India’s Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet on 7 July citing health reasons in advance of a major cabinet reshuffle this week that brought in a new minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, with joint responsibility for the education ministry and ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship.

The change in ministers is expected to inject new urgency into the roll-out of the education ministry’s main reforms under the National Education Policy approved last year. This sets out policies for the next two decades, including internationalisation and research aspects of the plan.

Pokhriyal, the outgoing minister, expressed his unwillingness to continue in the cabinet due to the impact on his health of post-COVID complications. Pokhriyal, who tested positive for COVID-19 on 21 April, was hospitalised in June following post-COVID complications. He had been the minister responsible for education since May 2019.

However, according to sources, ill health was not the only reason behind stepping back, along with a dozen other ministers who resigned ahead of the reshuffle to make way for the rejigged cabinet announced on 7 and 8 July.

During Pokhriyal’s term in office, appointments to key university leadership posts effectively came to a standstill. Consequently, about half of the country’s 40 central universities, including the top-notch Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University and the University of Hyderabad, have been without a regular vice-chancellor for months.

At these universities, either the outgoing university heads were given temporary extensions or a senior professor was appointed acting vice-chancellor. At JNU, the current vice-chancellor, M Jagadesh Kumar, is on a six-month extension after his tenure ended in January.

Similarly, while five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), in Delhi, Patna, Indore, Bhubaneswar and Mandi, have been functioning without full-time directors, another eight IITs, in Bombay, Ropar, Roorkee, Gandhinagar, Mandi, Delhi, Goa and Tirupati, are without a chairperson for their respective boards of governors.

This was not due to a lack of candidates for the posts but rather ‘foot dragging’ by the ministry in making decisions, according to sources.

Key decisions lacking

The appointment vacuum has affected decision-making in top higher education institutions, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic and when the government launched its National Education Policy (NEP), drafted under a previous human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar.

Since the adoption of the NEP, on-the-ground implementation of the policy has been regarded by some academics and policy-makers as sluggish, although the pandemic and prolonged university closures have also added to delays.

Some academics said acting vice-chancellors or vice-chancellors on temporary extensions were cautious about taking decisions on key issues, including implementing some parts of the NEP, such as bringing in new interdisciplinary courses and four-year undergraduate programmes.

According to some academics, Pokhriyal failed to take the education policy “to the masses”, although it was perceived as a major, momentous change in the country’s education sector, and there has not been much discussion of the new policy since it was announced.

Similarly, the decision to call off Class 10 and Class 12 CBSE board examinations due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic situation was taken by the Prime Minister’s Office last month, even though Pokhriyal favoured holding the exams. Students and guardians were very unhappy with the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the examinations.

Pankaj Mittal, secretary general of the Delhi-based Association of Indian Universities, said the first priority for the incoming minister must be the implementation of the NEP 2020, “because it’s almost one year since we have [had] the NEP and it’s a very student-centric and innovative policy, so if it is implemented in letter and spirit, the total landscape of Indian higher education can change”.

NEP should be new minister’s priority

Mittal told University World News that former minister Pokhriyal did create a lot of awareness of the NEP.

“Initially when any policy document is released, the first and foremost thing is to create awareness and let the people understand the document. So, a lot of understanding of the document happened during his time and how to implement it. And now the new minister has to implement it,” she said.

Elaborating on what the new minister needs to do better, especially in light of the pandemic, Mittal said the pandemic had highlighted the digital divide. “Removing the digital divide and bringing out low-cost devices and maybe cheaper internet connectivity are the challenge now so that the digital divide may be bridged and everybody has access to online education,” she said.

“Online is not only during the pandemic; it will be a new normal. Blended education is also being promoted in the NEP. Blended education is the future and in this there has to be a lot of online teaching, both in terms of open education resources as well as the technology,” she added.

However, Dheeraj Sanghi, vice-chancellor-designate at JK Lakshmipat University, a private institution in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and a former professor at IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Gandhinagar and Ashoka University, said higher education needed less regulation.

For the incoming minister, “handling the education sector in the time of COVID-19 and ensuring effective implementation of the ambitious National Education Policy 2020 are the big challenges before him and the government, and the people hope he will rise to their expectations”.

“We have to think in the long term. We need to focus on the quality of education. The pandemic is an emergency response, which a good administrator or minister should think about, but that is not the most important part of the job. The most important part is how India will lead the world in the education sector,” Sanghi said.

Important ministries for youth

India’s first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 at short notice caused a massive migration of workers back to their hometowns and villages, and a loss of jobs for millions.

Employment and skills development for those displaced and the normal resumption of universities so that they can provide better employment opportunities for the cohort with higher education are seen to be the main priorities for the minister, who previously held the post of minister of skill development and entrepreneurship prior to 2019.

Now heading the two most important ministries for the youth of India – around 47% of the country’s population is under the age of 25 according to official statistics based on the census – Pradhan tweeted on 8 July: “(I) will be committed to strengthen skilling efforts, equipping youth with necessary skills to prepare them for Future of Work and creating linkages between skilling & employment.”

In another tweet, he said: “We will continue to set new benchmarks in integrating education with employment & making it more inclusive, holistic, multi-disciplinary and at par with global standards.”